A NOVEL FUNGAL ELICITOR THAT INDUCES DEFENSE RESPONSE IN STRAWBERRY AND OTHER PLANT SPECIES

CARO M.P.; ASURMENDI S.; HOLTON N.; MARTINEZ-ZAMORA M.G.; DÍAZ RICCI J.C. ; ZIPFEL C.

Norwich

Encuentro; Annual Science Meeting; 2016

John Innes Centre-The Sainsbury Laboratory

AsES (Acremonium strictum elicitor subtilisn) is an extracellular protease produced by the avirulent isolate of Acremonium strictum, a pathogen in strawberry. It has been previously shown that AsES produces a defence response that is characterized by ROS production, callose deposition, defence -related gene expression, NO accumulation and protection against Colletotrichum acutatum, the causal agent of anthracnose disease in strawberry and against Botrytis cinerea in Arabidopsis (1,2 and 3). In order to determine if the protease activity is required for the defence response and if the protein is recognised by a receptor in a classical PAMP/PRR interaction, the aims of this work were to express AsES protein as well as a mutant version affected in enzymatic activity and small fragments using an heterologous system that allow us to obtain high yields and purity.